Escape

Because Huo Jiu suspected that the reason his high fever kept recurring was that, at the point in time when his soul kept Reloading, he had been running a high fever. So every time he woke up, he felt utterly exhausted.

To erase that soul-deep fatigue, he had to successfully get through this plot point. Only then could Huo Jiu recover his health and return at full strength.

Having figured that out, Huo Jiu immediately surrendered to the plot.

That was probably what it meant to bow your head when you were under someone else's roof.

"...The chairman has been truly good to you. He spent more than three million yuan buying this wild ginseng. Yet he took it out to nourish your body and told Aunt Zhao to stew soup for you."

Although only half a ginseng rootlet had been stewed, it was not because Chairman Su was stingy. Ginseng was highly restorative, and Chairman Su feared that Huo Jiu's weak body could not handle too much of it, so he had only stewed such a small amount.

Still, this had drawn Aunt Zhao's displeasure. She found Huo Jiu more and more unpleasant to look at, because she felt Chairman Su was treating him far too well. The good things of the Su family should have been saved for Su Zhuo.

"...In the future, you must be filial to the chairman. He truly treats you like his own son," Lu Manzhen urged earnestly.

She had originally thought Huo Jiu did not know what was good for him. But that night, Huo Jiu had exposed Su Zhuo's aunt's selfish motives with a single remark and poisoned Chairman Su against that bitch. Lu Manzhen had suddenly discovered another useful purpose for her son.

That was why she had been so attentive to Huo Jiu these past few days. Besides following Chairman Su's instructions and persuading Huo Jiu to agree to donate bone marrow, she also wanted to win Huo Jiu over. She wanted to use him as a weapon against that self-righteous woman.

Of course, in Lu Manzhen's heart, treating Huo Jiu well was also her way of making up for her shortcomings as a mother. She had been unable to give her son a good living environment back then, but it was not too late to make amends now.

As long as Huo Jiu obediently listened to her, both mother and son would enjoy endless wealth and glory in the future.

As Huo Jiu listened to Lu Manzhen's nagging, he drank his soup and asked, "Do you think the pigs at a pig farm would be grateful to the farm owner?"

Lu Manzhen did not catch on. "Huh?"

Huo Jiu continued, "The pig farm owner fattens up the piglets so he can sell them for money. By the same logic, Su Shiyuan wants me to get well so I can transplant my bone marrow to his son. That way, my frail health will not affect his son's recovery treatment."

He was not stupid enough to be sold off and still thank the person who sold him.

Hearing that, Lu Manzhen was secretly delighted. "So you agree to donate bone marrow?"

After finishing the soup, Huo Jiu set the bowl on the coffee table. After resting these past few days, his fever had completely subsided, and he had mostly recovered. From Su Shiyuan's perspective, the pig he had raised was ready for slaughter.

Huo Jiu guessed that Su Shiyuan would not be able to wait much longer before bringing up the bone marrow transplant again. Before then, Huo Jiu had to prepare himself.

Chapter 5: Escape

Donating bone marrow was out of the question. Setting aside his personal stance of sharing the original body's hatred, Huo Jiu would never obediently follow the plot. But before escaping the Su family, he had to find a way to keep Su Shiyuan steady.

"What terms can you offer?" When Su Shiyuan brought up the subject again, Huo Jiu simply took the initiative.

"I will treat you as my own son." Su Shiyuan smiled gently and repeated patiently, "I told you before: as long as you agree to donate bone marrow, I will treat you as my own. Everything Su Zhuo has, you will have as well—"

"Don't fob me off with empty promises." Huo Jiu cut him off. "Open a card in my name and transfer one hundred million yuan into it first..."

Before Huo Jiu could finish, Lu Manzhen could no longer stand it. "How can you be so thoughtless?"

"Su Zhuo is Mother's child, and you are Mother's child too. The two of you can be considered real brothers from different fathers and mothers. Now Su Zhuo is sick, and only you can save him. This is the fate between you brothers."

"Mother hopes you will agree to donate bone marrow, not for money, but for our family."

Huo Jiu looked Lu Manzhen over. Her face was sincere, and her tone was earnest. Smiling, he asked, "As a mother who abandoned her biological son for over a decade, are you sure you want to put on a touching mother-son act with someone else's child in front of me?"

Lu Manzhen's expression stiffened, and an inexplicable anger rose within her. "Stop talking to me with that attitude all the time. I know you've always held a grudge over what happened back then. You think I should not have abandoned you. But I had no choice! Your father refused to give me custody of you no matter what. As a divorced woman, I had no way to make a living elsewhere while raising a child. I was forced into it too. Now that I have the means, didn't I bring you back immediately? I want to make it up to you, but you won't give me the chance."

"Your way of making it up to me is to transplant my bone marrow into your stepson." Huo Jiu looked at the furious, humiliated Lu Manzhen, trying to sort out her logic from her excuses. Unfortunately, Lu Manzhen's thought process was truly bizarre. No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not understand. He turned to Su Shiyuan. "Did you understand that?"

Su Shiyuan looked somewhat embarrassed.

Lu Manzhen hurriedly explained, "Of course not. What I mean is, I will do my best to make up for what I owe you. But I hope you can agree to the bone marrow transplant. This is a matter of life and death. Don't disregard Xiao Zhuo's safety just because you're angry with me."

Those words struck straight at Su Shiyuan's heart. Chairman Su's expression softened slightly as he said, "What your mother means is what I mean as well. As long as you agree to donate bone marrow, you will be Xiao Zhuo's lifesaving benefactor. I, Su Shiyuan, distinguish clearly between kindness and grudges. I will never treat you unfairly."

"Then transfer one hundred million yuan into my account first, and don't forget to sign a gift contract." Huo Jiu brought the conversation back around.

Su Shiyuan's expression froze.

Lu Manzhen flew into a rage. "Why can't you understand what I'm saying? Didn't I say I would make it up to you—"

"You make amends for your part, and he repays kindness for his. Those are two separate matters." Huo Jiu smiled and asked, "Or are you saying that once he repays me for saving his son, you think you no longer need to make up for abandoning me all those years? Or is the prerequisite for you to make amends that I must agree to the bone marrow transplant unconditionally?"